US And Russia Agree On Prisoner Swap: President Biden Says Tough Decision, Ex-marine Swap For A Pilot

JAKARTA - The United States and Russia have agreed to exchange prisoners, amid strained relations between the two countries in recent decades over the invasion of Ukraine.

The exchange this time involved former US Marine Trevor Reed with Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, as reported by Reuters on April 27. The two countries announced the exchange was the result of months of work and did not involve negotiations on other sensitive topics involving the United States and Russia, US officials said.

Reed, from Texas, is on his way to reunite with his family in the United States, a senior Biden administration official said, with one person saying the 30-year-old was in "good spirits."

"Today, we welcome Trevor Reed home and celebrate his return to a family who miss him so much," President Joe Biden said in a statement, noting their concern about Reed's health.

President Biden said he had shared the news with Reed's parents, Joey and Paula Reed, who had urged his government to help their son.

Both thanked Biden and others, saying "our family has had a nightmare" over the past 985 days.

"The president's actions may have saved Trevor's life," they said in a statement.

Reed was convicted in Russia in 2019 for endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow. The United States called his trial a "theater of the absurd."

President Biden met Reed's parents at the White House on March 30. In a statement the following week, the parents said a prisoner swap appeared to be the only way to bring Reed home and urged the White House to take all possible steps to do so.

Previously, Russia had proposed a prisoner swap for Yaroshenko in July 2019, in exchange for the release of any Americans. Yaroshenko is a pilot convicted of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country. He was captured by US special forces in Liberia in 2010.

President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they were working to free another US citizen detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, also a former Marine.

The talks leading up to Reed's release were strictly focused on securing his freedom, not the start of broader diplomatic conversations, a senior Biden administration official said in a phone call with reporters.

"We are very limited to this topic, the topic of prisoners. It's not part of a wider diplomatic discussion. It's not the start of a discussion on other issues," one official said.

President Biden did not comment on the details of the exchange, except to say "Negotiations that would allow us to bring Trevor home required tough decisions that I don't take lightly."

He underlined that his administration has made it a priority to bring home Americans wrongfully detained overseas and will continue to work for the release of Whelan and others.